Shooting exposes the war at home

Tension simmers here, but rarely reaches the surface

By CLAUDIA ROWE, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Sunday, July 30, 2006

In intellectual Seattle, where even the most fractious political debates can be discussed over coffee, Friday's shooting at the Jewish Federation building left both pro- and anti-Israeli activists struggling to distance their views from extremism that might erupt in violence.

But the fact of a self-described Muslim announcing his rage at Israel before opening fire was impossible to deny, and brought front and center opinions about conflict in the Middle East that have simmered here for years.

In near-weekly anti-Israeli rallies supporting the Palestinian cause, or vigils held to commemorate the death of college student Rachel Corrie -- killed while protesting Israeli occupation of the West Bank -- or at downtown gatherings denouncing recent Israeli military action in Lebanon, hundreds of self-described peace activists have made plain their position.

Less immediately visible, but no less resolute, are advocates such as Barry Goren, who logs onto his home computer each morning to read the Hebrew media and get a daily dose of news from the Jewish world.

Goren, former director of the Jewish Federation, sends his children to Seattle's Jewish schools and was delighted when his 16-year-old daughter, Molly, returned from a semester in Israel with a newly visceral passion for the Jewish state.

"I think she came back with some Zionist fervor," he said with a chuckle. "We've raised our kids to be proud Jews and to feel connected to Israel since they were very young."

Just as committed on the opposite end of the political spectrum are women such as Cindy Sherbert, 43, who found herself drawn to fight perceived injustices on Israel's part after she began taking Arabic language lessons from a Palestinian.

"It was impossible not to start seeing things from his perspective," she said.

That led Sherbert to increasing involvement with Seattle's Palestine Solidarity Committee, a group that has seen its membership and attendance increase steadily over the last three years.

"The worse things get over there, the more interest we see here," Sherbert said.

This clash of Seattle cultures was bitterly in evidence Friday as Sherbert and dozens of others gathered in Westlake Park to protest Israel -- even as a man was firing a semiautomatic pistol at women in the Jewish Federation building a few blocks away.

"It was just a bizarre coincidence that everything happened all at once that day," said Sherbert, who learned of Haq's attack as she was preparing to attend the rally. "I wasn't sure if we were even going to go ahead with it. I was terribly sad, and didn't want to be seen as insensitive -- I was quite devastated."

But she went, anyway, finding it impossible not to protest Israel's military action.

"We debate, we argue and discuss, and we go on and on and on, frankly never reaching consensus," said Robert Jacobs, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in the Northwest. Everlasting peaceful debate is just as he likes it.

"This is Seattle. The issues don't get resolved."

Even within the Jewish community, Jacobs added, there is heated debate over Israeli action in the Middle East.

"It goes from one extreme to the other, but that has always stayed within the level of political discourse, no matter how upset it makes people."

The rhetoric, however, sometimes becomes incendiary.

"Human tragedy and destruction are unfolding each day in Lebanon and Palestine with hundreds of innocent civilians killed and thousands more injured as Israeli warplanes continue to bomb Lebanon," said a statement released July 22 by the Arab-American Community Coalition announcing a candlelight vigil at Green Lake. "How many more will die?"

Rita Zawaideh, chairwoman of the coalition, said Sunday that she laid flowers at the federation door after the attack, but acknowledged that her first thought, upon hearing the news, was about the shooter and the potential ramifications for Muslims.

A week ago, concern about the effect being felt by Israelis inspired Robin Boehler, current board chairwoman at the Jewish Federation, to help organize a massive rally on Mercer Island. Sunday, she was meeting again -- this time to coordinate increased security of Jewish groups at home.